Instead of funding the compensation, 60 of 86 House Republicans voted to impeach Paxton on charges of bribery, incompetence, and abuse of power. He was acquitted by the state Senate in September, and the attorney general is now embarking on a revenge trip targeting many of the state House Republicans who impeached him.Paxton is supported 47 candidates Tuesday’s state House primary.
His biggest target is House Speaker Dade Phelan. The attorney general appeared in a commercial for David Covey, one of Mr. Phelan’s main challengers, and flew to Mr. Phelan’s hometown of Beaumont to campaign against him. Paxton even asked Donald Trump to endorse Covey. The former president took to social media to blame Phelan for Paxton’s impeachment, which Trump called “an utter disgrace” to “our great Republican Party.”
Phelan, who has never faced a challenger in a primary or general election since winning his seat a decade ago, has found himself spending millions of dollars to survive in districts along the state. . In each of the past two primaries, only about 20,000 people voted at the Louisiana border. He told supporters at a recent rally that Republicans have a special responsibility to weed out bad actors because a Democrat hasn’t won a statewide election in Texas since 1994.
“After 30 years of one-party rule, we have to hold each other accountable,” Phelan said. “Otherwise you’ll lose control.”
Phelan, 48, is not a RINO (Republican in name only). He has ushered in tough laws on abortion, guns and immigration. “If you get rid of Dade Phelan, you’ll be completely insane,” Rick Perry, President Trump’s energy secretary and former governor, said during a campaign stop with Trump.
Still, Mr. Covey is clearly on Mr. Phelan’s right, if that term is appropriate. He signed the Texas Nationalist Movement’s petition calling for a referendum on whether the Lone Star State should secede from the Union. He wants to abolish “gun free zones” and property taxes. Covey acknowledges the race is a proxy war. “We’re going to go after the snake’s head,” he says.
He was talking about Phelan, but the real Texas Snake is Paxton. The 61-year-old Republican has long been America’s worst attorney general. Paxton calmed the crowd at the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, when President Trump incited the insurrection. He also filed frivolous lawsuits seeking to throw out votes in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. An unseemly combination of troll and thug, Paxton has used his office to target companies and organizations that won’t bow to his policies.
But Mr. Paxton’s impeachment was motivated by personal conduct, not policy. His former chief of staff, Katherine Carey, testified during a 10-day Senate trial that she warned him that he could be at risk for bribes after he confessed to adultery. She said that when the attorney general’s wife called to ask about the attorney general’s whereabouts, she complained that staff members had to represent her. (Tony Buzbee, Paxton’s attorney, told senators: “What if we impeached everyone who had an extramarital affair here in Austin? We’d be impeaching them for the next 100 years, right? ”)
Paxton refused to testify at the Senate trial. The whistleblowers reopened their lawsuit after the state Legislature failed to pay them a settlement. Mr. Paxton announced in January that he would not contest the facts of the case and sought to avoid answering questions under oath from his lawyers. A county judge rejected the bid to avoid a trial, but the state Supreme Court put the deposition on hold while considering an appeal. President Trump pressured the judges to end the case. Meanwhile, a private company sued the state for $700,000 to defend Paxton from the whistleblower lawsuit. As lead attorney, he charges $540 per hour.
Separately, Mr. Paxton will go on trial in Houston next month on two counts of state felony securities fraud, nine years after he failed to register as an investment adviser. The case has been postponed repeatedly since 2015 due to changes of venue, hurricanes, Covid-19, and endless campaigns.
Regardless of what happens in Tuesday’s election, Mr. Paxton has threatened to challenge Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to become the next Senate Republican leader in the 2026 primary. Paxton attacked the state’s senior senator on social media last week. Cornyn clapped back.: “It’s hard to escape from prison, Ken.” The only thing worse than Paxton in Austin would be Paxton in Washington.